Baseball America has learned that two prospects on the High School Top 100 (subscriber-only) list have suffered injuries recently that will require surgery. Outfielder/lefthander Slade Heathcott of Texas High in […]

Pitching has been the headline of the World Wood Bat Championships. While several position prospects have made an impression, the arms have simply overmatched hitters and taken advantage of the strong winds that have been blowing in on some of the fields.

It is very difficult to soar as a fledgling baseball player when you've never been taught that batting practice isn't synonymous with hacking, or when the coach at your inner city public high school doesn't respond to invitations from scouts to recommend players for tryouts. It is even harder when you're lucky enough to somehow land a scholarship to a prestigious prep school, only to find that every black player is benched, every single game, and only white players start. It is nearly impossible when showcases such as Perfect Game can cost up to $600—before travel expenses. But during the week of July 21, angels of both the guardian and Anaheim persuasion intervened and in the city of Compton, a handful of miles away from the rubble of South Central L.A., a minor miracle occurred.

The pearl white balls being thrown on the manicured fields of the USA Baseball National Training Complex are a far cry from the old matchbox cars in Tyler Matzek's childhood home, but it's still the same game. One person is throwing, while the other guy tries to hit it. These days the roles are reversed from the backyard games he played with his father as a 4-year-old: Matzek is the one throwing pitches that have left some of the nation's top hitters confused all summer.<br/>

When Matthew Purke made the U.S. 16-and-Under Team two years ago, he did what many would do. Purke bought a U.S. Baseball hat and brought it home, proud of his achievement. When his older brother, Jason, saw the hat, he made sure that it would not gather any dust on the family mantle. "I told him he would train in that hat," Jason said.

The 22nd annual Area Code Games came to an end, on time and in front of a sparse crowd (most scouts and college coaches left California Saturday evening on red eye flights), Sunday evening at Blair field in Long Beach. The event was a logistical success as the weather was perfect, and all 20 games on the schedule were completed without one hint of a weather delay.<br/>However, the one hiccup in the event's details was the overlapping of the dates between the Area Code Games and the Aflac All-American Game. Due to the Aflac game being played in the same week, many of the nation's best players, that would have typically been at the Area Code Games, were not present. As it turned out, the scheduling made things easier on scouts and college coaches as it was possible to knock out both events in one trip. In turn, the talent level at the Area Code Games inevitably took a hit.